Leading British GT team HHC Motorsport has announced its two drivers for its second McLaren 570S for the 2019 season.
Luke Williams and Tom Jackson will pair up to drive the second car alongside Callum Pointon and Dean Macdonald in the other.
Luke Williams has specialised in single-seaters in recent years, starting in Formula Ford in 2009 and finishing second in the Scholarship Class of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain in 2010. Luke has raced in UK national championships ever since, winning the 2017 National Formula Ford 1600 Championship and now embarks on his first full season of GT racing.
Tom Jackson’s career began with HHC Motorsport in the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2012 before moving into The BRDC Formula 4 Championship two seasons later. Third in the championship in 2015, Tom brings experience of the European Le Mans Series LMP3 machinery and GT Aston Martins from the Gulf 12 Hours as well as knowledge of Porsche after two events in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at the end of 2018.
Said Jackson: “I know HHC well having raced for them and against them over the years. HHC is a great team and its dedication and ability is second to none on the British GT grid so I am looking forward to a great season. My aim is to get on to McLaren’s radar and show what I can do. The McLaren brand has helped to attract sponsors because it is so well known, both through motor racing and its supercars on the road. Being in a two-car team will help as well, by being able to share data. I am after wins and podiums this year and I can’t wait to get started.”
Luke Williams said: “I’m after a championship win! I know we have to get on to of the car but McLaren is such a professional brand that I am sure that we will do that quickly, especially with HHC and McLaren behind Tom and I and with some test days booked pre-season. I’ve never driven for HHC before although the team is based just down the road from me, but I have a really good feeling for this year. It will be areal change from single-seater racing but I am sure that my Formula Ford racecraft will help me get through any traffic, and apart from a couple of Britcar races last year it will be different actually sharing a car. So…a new team, new car, new co-driver, new championship – there is a lot to learn but I am up fro the challenge.”
Yorkshire-based HHC Motorsport will run a pair of McLaren 570S GT4s in the 2019 British GT Championship as a McLaren Customer Racing team. In addition, the squad’s young drivers will put themselves in the window to be picked for the end-of-season shoot-out to join the 2020 McLaren Driver Development Programme, the manufacturer-supported initiative designed to give up-and-coming drivers experience on and off track to develop the next generation of McLaren factory drivers.
McLaren Customer Racing’s sporting management will closely observe the HHC drivers through the season, providing advice at race events.
HHC Motorsport’s Charlie Kemp said: “I am delighted to have such a strong partnership in our second car. Both Tom and Luke have proved their ability but have struggled to make career progress in the costly arena of single-seater racing. Now, with a full season confirmed, they have the opportunity to learn and develop into GT racers and with the help of HHC and McLaren they are well placed to enhance their carers in British GT. We look forward to watching their progress but also to sharing in their success in GT4 this season.”
HHC Motorsport’s British GT Championship campaign begins at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on April 20-22.
